She is Love
by vibranthufflepuff
Summary: Harry was like the anti-christ, no one wanted to be around him, not a single soul in all of Hogwarts ; except for her.
1. i've been beaten down

"Bee, I'm telling you, he's innocent!" Lola exclaimed in frustration as she sat next to her friends at lunch break, soaking up the last rays of summer sunshine before the bitter Scottish cold settled in the coming weeks. Beatrice Rousseau and Camille Martinez exchanged dull looks of exasperation before gazing back at their indignant friend with boredom and disdain evident in their sharp expressions.

"Lola, _babe_ , he cheated and he clearly used dark magic to accomplish this" Camille, the kinder of the two, stated simply as she placed a delicate hand on Lola's shoulder. Lola shook her off with a look of pure frustration and agitation on her face. She didn't understand why everyone had so easily turned against him, but she was fed up with listening to the entire school attack him, even if he was the-boy-who-lived.

"Cami, I _know_ he didn't do it, I can tell," she insisted as she stood up, refraining from stomping her foot like a petulant child. It wasn't often that Lola was riled up about anything; she was generally meek and mild-mannered, avoiding confrontation like the plague. But she really didn't like how the entire school had turned against him, did they really think a fourth year was capable of tricking the Goblet of Fire?

"And how do you know, Lola?! You don't even know this guy! For all any of us know, he could have received some or all of the evil from you-know-who through that vile scar!" Chris Gregory interrupted; his identical twin Connor nodding eagerly in agreement with the statement. Their long fringes swaying slightly from side to side with each movement they made to emphasise their point. Lola didn't particularly like the twins; they were duller than a bag of hammers and even less appealing to look at. She knew that Beatrice simply liked having them around to intimidate people, but Lola wasn't like her. She wasn't like any of her friends really.

"Guys, I know how it feels to think the entire school is against you and like you don't have a single person on your side, it wasn't his **fault** that his name came out, and he should know that not everybody hates him," she hissed pointedly before slinging her bag over her shoulder and turning away from her gobsmacked friends. She really did need to find some nicer people to associate with.

She had maybe only spoken to Harry twice in the past three years; once when he had asked to borrow a quill in Transfiguration and once when Ron had accidentally knocked her over at the beginning of the year. She hadn't thought much about what she was going to say to him, she just thought he ought to know that not all Hufflepuffs were against him. He deserved at least one person to believe in him.

Ever since his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire a week ago as the fourth champion; he had been completely ostracized in the school and in Gryffindor house; He seemed to receive dirty looks from all four houses and the whispers of disdain followed him all through the day, and he had to deal with Ron's grumbling come evening. For once, it wasn't just Professor Snape that thought he was the scum of the earth; he had even gotten a glare from Professor Sprout during Herbology.

At present, he was sat on one of the stone benches in the courtyard, tucked away in the trees and hidden from the gaggles of Hufflepuffs and Slytherins who seemed to derive the greatest pleasure from tormenting him, his shoulders were slumped over as he actually compared himself to Hermione; usually on a day like today, he would have spent his break with Ron, and probably Seamus and Dean, goofing off near the black lake, but instead, he was reading a thick and somewhat dull book on the rise of Barty Crouch Snr. Sirius' comments from their last night had stuck with him and he kept them in the back of his mind as he read about the imprisonment of his son ten years ago, as well as the horror that it had caused his wife.

He had only been there for a short amount of time, maybe ten minutes or so, when he felt someone's eyes on him and prepared himself for a confrontation. Bracing himself for the worst, he was stunned when his eyes landed on the prettiest witch he had ever seen before, all thoughts of Cho vanished as he soon saw this girl. Her skin was pale, even for a British person, and her long hair hung in ringlets around her shoulders, but his expression immediately hardened as he became aware of the Hufflepuff tie hanging loosely around her neck.

"What?! Want to tell me how pathetic and evil I am or that your precious Diggory deserves the crown because let me tell you-"

"Harry!" the beauty snapped at him with a scowl, "I came over here to tell you that I believe you, I know you didn't put your name in the Goblet of Fire," she explained coolly, her pale arms crossed over her chest daintily, "But if you want, I can go back to my friends who think you're the spawn of satan and leave you all by yourself, again," she finished, turning on her heel to walk away from him.

"NO!" he said, a little louder than was probably necessary, "Erm, it's alright if you stay …" he offered awkwardly, smiling shyly at her. She gave him a small smile and took a seat on the bench next to him, "What's your name?" he asked awkwardly as he tried, and failed, to break the ice. Girls didn't approach him, unless they were Hermione, Ginny or one of the girls off of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team.

"Lola, Lola O'Reilly," She told him, her Irish accent slipping through the cracks slightly and causing him to smile at her. She was endearingly shy and reminded him a little of Hermione, without the sisterly vibe that he got from his best friend.

"I don't mean to be rude, Lola, but why would you believe me? You don't even know me," he asked, peaking at her curiously through his glasses. Not one of his friends, besides Hermione, had believed him. Those were people who had known him better than anyone else for the past three years, and they didn't trust his word. Yet here was this petite little Hufflepuff who believed in him. It didn't make an ounce of sense.

"We've been in classes together for the past three years, Harry, I've seen the way you act towards people. You can be impulsive and temperamental, especially when a Slytherin is involved, but you're not evil. You're a good person and you haven't done anything to counteract that, people just like to jump to conclusions; besides that, I just have a feeling that you're innocent, can't really explain that one," She told him, a faint pink tinge colouring the apples of her cheeks as she went on.

"You'd have to be the only person who believes that – even Ron thinks I cheated," He muttered, casting his gaze to the grass they were sitting on, she smiled at him sympathetically and chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully.

"Ron and you are more alike than either of you realise, you're both stubborn and irrational at the best of times but you know what's right – even if it takes a while to get there – he'll come around eventually," Lola told him, and he looked up at her hopefully, reminding her of a puppy who had been lost on his way home. Lola had to remind herself that he probably hadn't ever had a conflict with Ron, this was probably incredibly difficult for him.

"How do you know all of this?!" he questioned her incredulously and raising an eyebrow, causing her to turn red once again. He was more than curious where she was getting this information from. He had never even spoken to her before, yet she seemed to know all of these intimate details about him and his friends and he wanted an explanation.

"Hermione confides in me a lot," she shrugged, "We're actually pretty close. She spends so much time helping you two that she has to talk to someone about it all. Or sometimes she just needs someone to be there for her so we'll study together or something like that," She explained and it did make sense, Hermione would often disappear for a couple of hours after having it out with Ron and it would make sense for her to be with Lola.

"Ah! Speak of the devil!" She grinned and Harry turned his head to see Hermione standing there before them him, a curious and suspicious look on her own pale face. Unsurprisingly, there was also a large pile of books in her arms.

"Hello Lola, Harry, what might you two be up to?" she asked, her curiosity shining through her tone as she stood there with her hand on her hip, her sharp eyes flickering between her two friends suspiciously, she didn't know that they even knew each other.

"Oh you know, the usual, I'm just spilling all your secrets to Harry, couldn't keep them all to myself anymore," Lola grinned brightly up at her best friend, she trusted Hermione more than she trusted any of her other friends, but she was way too fun to mess with, and she never disappointed.

"Brilliant," Hermione deadpanned, although unable to wipe a matching grin off of her face at the interaction with her friend, before turning to Harry. "Professor Moody wants to see you, apparently it's urgent," She informed her other best friend, scowling slightly. Lola suspected that Hermione was still upset with the professor for using unforgivable curses in a lesson last week.

Harry frowned slightly at the break being cut short and turned to look at Lola, "Guess I'll be seeing you around then" he half-grinned at her before walking away with Hermione, both of them talking very quickly and animatedly as well as in a manner that appeared to be quite abrasive. Lola could only imagine that Hermione was now quizzing him on what he and Lola had been talking about.

As she moved to get up and join her friends, Lola's eyes landed on the book Harry had been reading, her small hands picking it up to read the cover; **The Rise and Fall of Barty Crouch Snr.**

Why was Harry reading about the Head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation?

[&&&]

Meanwhile, Harry and Hermione were deep in discussion as they made their way to the office of their eccentric Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, both of them talking a mile a minute and trying to speak over one another..

"Come on, Harry! Just admit it!" Hermione pressed him agitatedly as they walked up the stairs, something was different about Harry and she knew it had something to do with her shy confidant. He had been _flirting_ with her for merlin's sake! Hermione didn't even think Harry knew how to flirt!

"I don't know what you're talking about, Mione!" Harry replied, attempting to be evasive as he trained his eyes on the lines of the steps leading up to their odd Professor's office. He didn't know why Moody wanted to see him, but he could only imagine it had something to do with the first task, which he still knew nothing about.

"Merlin, Harry! You were hitting on Lola so hard that you were almost breaking out a sweat!" Hermione exclaimed as they came to a stop in the corridor that held both their DADA classroom and Moody's office, Harry still refusing to respond to Hermione's accusation, and further agitating her.

"Hermione, you're being **ridiculous**. I only met the girl not even an hour ago, how can you even begin to suggest that I was flirting with her? It was just a conversation. You know it is possible to associate with a person of the opposite sex without there being any sexual tension, even if you and a certain Weasley can't manage that," He smirked, consequently getting shoved into the stone wall by Hermione in retaliation.

"Ronald Weasley is such an insolent, self-centred **git**! I would _never_ stoop that low, even if my life depended on it. He can go shack up with Millicent Bulstrode, or better, Moaning Myrtle, for all I care. His entire attitude towards you in the past week or so has been arguably the most idiotic and moronic thing I have ever seen him do – even more so than getting hit in the face with a broom in first year flying lessons. He's just so-" She began her rant about their red-headed comrade, even though he had been anything but friendly towards him in the past week.

"Granger, if you're quite finished with your teenage angst-filled rant about Weasley, I'll be talking to Potter in my office now," Moody's abstract figure appeared in the door way, looming over the two fourteen year olds in an intimidating fashion, and rendering Hermione absolutely silent.

"Oh, um, yes, Professor, of course. Harry, I'll see you in Transfiguration" She stammered slightly before beginning to walk away in embarrassment.

Harry bit back a smirk before shouting after her, "Who said I was talking about Ron?" and ducking into Moony's office just in time to dodge the hex which she had hurled at him.


	2. i've been kicked around

Lola tightened her grip on the strap of her messenger bag as she struggled through the hallway to her Transfiguration class with the Gryffindor's. She had to bite her lip to stop the smile spreading across her face at the thought of the talk that she had shared with Harry earlier. There was something so easy and simple about what she hoped would blossom into a fantastic friendship with the kind boy.

"Lola!" A voice called out from across the classroom and Lola's eyes flitted over the noisy classroom before making contact with Hermione's, smiling widely at her enthusiastic friend as she made her way over to sit behind Hermione and Neville Longbottom, who looked positively awkward at that particular moment in time. Although, Lola couldn't remember a time when she had ever seen Neville look anything other than awkward.

"Hi Hermione, Hello Neville!" she greeted cheerfully as she sat down, taking her transfiguration books out of her bag and placing them on her desk before resting her elbows on top of the timber desk that had probably seen years of backfired transfiguration attempts. She had always liked that the transfiguration desks were quite battered and marked, it showed that they had history. Lola had always loved history.

"So, Lola, did you have a nice lunch?" Hermione grinned suggestively and Lola's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, making the clever witch in front of her rolled her eyes in frustration. "Merlin! You're almost as bad as Harry! One of you has to tell me what you were talking about!" Hermione almost barked out in irritation, her dark brown eyes flashing dangerously with suspicion.

"Don't worry, Hermione, you're secrets are still safe with me," Lola smirked at the slightly older witch and tapped her painted nails against the timber of the desk as she watched Hermione squirm with the discomfort of not knowing what two of her closest friends and confidantes were chatting about. Especially when she had never seen them even interact before - apart from Lola excusing herself when she tried to squeeze past him and Ronald in the hallway when it was particularly crowded.

"We just talked is all, Mione, it was nice" The petite girl smiled shyly, a dreamy glint in her eyes as she thought about it, and how nice it was to talk to a boy without feeling like they were annoyed with her presence or like they were undressing her with their eyes. Talking to Harry had been nice, she wouldn't mind doing it more often.

"You're both bloody mad," Hermione scoffed as Professor McGonagall strolled past their tables to the front of the classroom, tapping her wand against the desk to gain the attention of the restless and chattering fourth years in the classroom. Hermione gave Lola a pointed scowl before spinning around to focus intently as Professor McGonagall began lecturing them about Vanishing Spells.

A significantly larger body dropped into the seat beside Lola and she jumped slightly, the presence of another person being so close to her in such an abrupt manner startling her. Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas snickered behind her and Lola blushed deeply, wanting to sink down in her seat and disappear into the floor of the castle.

"Guys, c'mon, leave her alone," The voice beside her reprimanded them or at least tried to, Lola didn't think that much could've silenced the snickers of Seamus Finnegan and his best mate. Lola snuck a peek at the person next to her and felt instantly relieved when she discovered that it was, Harry who had taken the seat that was usually occupied by Beatrice. She much preferred having him next to her.

"Mr. Potter, would you care to tell me why you might be so late to my class and without warning?" the Professor questioned, her accent thick, and her arms crossed over her chest primly as she waited for a sufficient answer from the young gentleman.

"Well, you see, Professor, I was with Professor Moody and I really did leave at the appropriate time but I got detained by Peeves, it won't happen again, Professor," Harry stuttered out and Lola suppressed a smile at his stammering. It was kind of cute.

"Somehow, I doubt that, Mr. Potter, if you're anything like that father of yours at least," McGonagall responded making the class chuckle. The tales of James Potter and the Marauders were legendary at Hogwarts, and even if Harry hadn't beaten Voldemort, he would still have the Marauder legacy to live up to. Harry simply shook his head at his favourite Professor and ran a hand through his already untameably messy black hair, making ends stick up every which way.

Lola saw a note land in front of her, breaking her from her revenue, and she blinked hazily before reading it in what she hoped was an inconspicuous manner. Knowing her though, it probably was the furthest thing from inconspicuous.

 _Sorry I startled you, Lola, I didn't think you'd jump like that!_

 **That's okay, I have your book by the way**

 _Which book?_

 **The one you were reading before I so rudely interrupted you at break, the one about Barty Crouch Snr**

Harry didn't send her any more notes after that, and Lola furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, had she already managed to put her foot in it?

[&&&]

Harry had bolted as soon as the bell had rang for the end of Transfiguration and the petite brunette was left in a confused and befuddled daze, this boy was giving her a headache. She didn't think that tell Harry about his book could possibly be offensive but maybe things were different in the Muggle world, she really didn't know. Her parents, though not blood-purity fanatics, had somewhat shielded her from the Muggle world

Lola drummed her fingers on the small table she shared with Beatrice in Divination, struggling to concentrate on the jumble of words coming out of Trelawney's mouth, when her mind kept drifting to the dark haired boy who had put her mind in a whirlwind. She didn't know why she was behaving this way, she wasn't usually one to go into a frenzy over boys. Something was different about Harry, he was different to the boys in her house, though the pickings were incredibly slim in Hufflepuff as it was.

" _Lola!_ " Beatrice snapped, a permanent scowl fixated on her flawlessly tan face, which really shouldn't have surprised Lola but it still did. She counted Beatrice as one of her friends, despite the fact that she always seemed to be scowling or sneering, usually both, in Lola's general direction. They were really only 'friends' because they had been placed in the same dormitory. Beatrice had just stayed within that friend group because she feared alienation

"Yes, Beatrice?" Lola drawled slowly, raising her eyes to the irritated and scowling French girl in challenge, before realising that they were the only people inside the room and collecting her items to leave the dark room. She had a habit of drifting off, especially in Divination as she found it totally and completely mind numbing. She had only taken it because her mother had asked her to.

"Merlin, you're so bloody embarrassing! No wonder no one likes you" she hissed impatiently with a sinister smirk, crossing her arms across her chest and tapping her perfectly manicured fingernails against her tanned forearm. Lola had often asked herself why her and Beatrice were even still ' friends' and she used that term in the loosest way possible, Beatrice was a pure-blood and everything Lola did seemingly aggravated her. She had an unmatched mean streak and enjoyed humiliating and tormenting people to a degree that it surprised Lola that the sorting hat hadn't placed her in Slytherin.

"What else is bloody new?" Lola muttered darkly as she turned on her heel and walked right past Beatrice and through the trapdoor of the Divination classroom, travelling down the winding staircase at a speed that rivalled Harry's Firebolt. She knew that she shouldn't let Beatrice get to her and that she should just brush it off, but Lola wasn't like her or even like Hermione, she couldn't just shrug it off. One of Lola's greatest flaws was that she took absolutely everything to heart and things like that hit her insecurities right in the bullseye – and Beatrice knew it.

The angrier Lola got, the quicker that she seemed to travel down the staircase, hot and frustrated tears slipping from her eyes. It seemed as though as soon as she wiped away one tear; a dozen more would slip down to accompany it. Lola was racing down the stairs so fast, however, that she didn't get to see the raven haired boy in front of her. She was surprised she hadn't tripped on one of the trick steps yet, she wasn't the most co-ordinated.

Nevertheless, Lola slammed into the poor guy at such a speed, that it sent them both sprawling across the staircase, Lola's head on his broad and somewhat muscular chest. She pushed herself up and felt a deep, dark blush spread from her cheeks all the way down into her chest, when she saw who she had run down, instantly jumping up and trying to collect her belongings which were now scattered around the two teenagers. She was quite certain that she had never been more embarrassed then she was right now.

"Oh gosh – Harry! I am so bloody sorry! I-I-I wasn't looking where I was going a-a-and then suddenly you were there and all I was thinking about was my fight with Beatrice and – damn it, I'm babbling, aren't I? I'll just go now, "She rushed out, before trying to flee down the staircase. She had absolutely no desire to humiliate herself any further than she already had that day, and it had all been in front of Harry, go figure.

"Lola, it's fine, I was actually looking for you," He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck, a hint of scarlet creeping up his own neck in a way that would befit a Weasley. It was endearing to see him embarrassed, it was comforting for Lola, and made her feel slightly more comfortable around him than she had been beforehand.

"You were?" Lola brightened up, all negative thoughts of Beatrice and her cruel words being forgotten as she concentrated on the boy in front of her. Harry and Hermione's friendship was something she wished she could have, you could really tell that they genuinely loved each other in a friendly way. She doubted that Hermione was attracted to Harry like Lola was but that was beside the point, because there was absolutely no way that Harry could ever be interested in Lola like that. But still, she would like to be good friends with him. She needed some good friends.

"Yeah, someone told me they overheard you and Beatrice having an argument and I wanted to make sure you were okay, I know Beatrice can be a bit of a bitch," he smiled crookedly at her and Lola felt her own reluctant smile work its way onto her face. Comments like that were going to make it all too easy for her to fall for him, and even easier for him to completely destroy her. However, she couldn't find it in herself to care too much about consequences right now.

"Thanks, but I'm fine, a little hungry though; you know where a girl can get some food around here?" she smiled softly up at him, her grip on her divination books tightening as she felt her heart beat faster in her chest while she waited for his response. She wanted to be careful around him, careful with her heart, but it was entirely too easy to lose her train of thought in his emerald eyes and his half-grin.

"Yeah, I think I can help you out, as long as you fill me in on this argument" he grinned at her, his emerald eyes glinting with amusement. He liked listening to her talk, it was soothing for him. He had already been warned **and** threatened by Hermione, told that if he were to hurt Lola in any way, shape or form, Voldemort would look like a fairy princess compared to what Hermione would inflict on him. He didn't think he would hurt her, but he quite obviously was shit at predicting the future, because he didn't think he would be in this position in the first place.

They both turned and walked down the staircase to the great hall, Lola beginning an animated tale on the emotionless and cruel entirety of her friendship with Beatrice, unaware of the tanned girl who was glaring at the pair of them in a jealous fury. Lola needed to learn her place in the hierarchy, and Beatrice had a plan that would beat her down once and for all.


	3. but she takes it all for me

As the sun began to retreat and the once warm summer days turned into frigid winter mornings, Lola began to pull back from the people she had once counted as her closest friends, and spend more and more time with Harry without any semblance of regret over her actions. The more time that she spent around him, the more she felt herself falling under his spell. Hermione had been more than supportive of this decision.

"Oh please, **please** , _please_ , Lola? I promise to not make any romantic implications for the rest of the week if you do!" The bushy haired genius pleaded with her reluctant friend on a Wednesday morning as they fought their way through the crowded corridors to the Charms classroom. Hermione had been quite insistent for Lola to come and sit with the other Gryffindor's ever since she had decided that Lola and Harry were destined to be together. Lola had been less than receptive of the idea, she didn't even know if it was allowed.

"Hermione, I am quite certain that the wonderful house of Gryffindor does not want to be bothered with the presence of a lowly Hufflepuff such as myself, you don't even know if it's against the rules!" Lola scoffed as she dodged past a group of giggling and gushing second years, all of which seemed to be gazing longingly at the emotionless and blank Viktor Krum. Lola honestly did not see what the big deal was about Krum, sure he was the best seeker in the world and those muscles did make her mouth go dry a little, but apart from that, the hook-nosed champion held no appeal for Lola. He had noticed that his eye seemed to linger on Hermione when she wasn't looking though.

"I bet I can think of one Gryffindor who would be _thrilled_ if you sat with us at lunch breaks," Hermione smirked at her as Flitwick practically floated into the classroom and began the particular lesson in which they were all still learning how to master the summoning charm. The charm was somewhat advanced and most of the class had been having considerable trouble with it, Lola had learnt it over the summer though, her mother used it often around the family estate. She could also recall her older brother, Max, using it when she was a child to bring her a particular toy or snack.

Lola's eyes flashed to the opposite side of the room where she could see Harry and Neville practicing, the raven haired boy dodging objects expertly as the kind, round-faced boy attempted to master the spell. He was so _different_ from the other boys, not just in their year, but boys in general. She found herself wanting to spend as much time with him as possible, and not just to avoid spending time with her dorm mates. She knew it had been rough on him being ostracized by Ron, but she hoped that she had been able to ease the difficulty a bit.

"So Harry and Ron are still being stubborn mules, eh?" Lola asked the intelligent girl in front of her, twirling her wand around her fingers absent-mindedly as she gazed across the room at her previous line of sight, her eyes shifting slightly to where Ron and Seamus were practicing almost as unsuccessfully as Harry and Neville. She couldn't for the life of her understand why they couldn't just kiss and make up already, they were best mates yet were behaving like worst enemies, and it was ridiculous. Everyone knew that they missed each other, they were both just too proud to be the first to give in.

"Ugh, yes! It's getting beyond ridiculous, and, as per usual, I'm stuck right in the bloody middle! I wish I could just split myself in half and smack some sense into the both of them. Hang on a minute, maybe there's a spell for this sort of thing…" she trailed, no doubt racking through her photographic memory in an attempt to remember if she had every read about such a spell. If anyone was able to split themselves in two, then it would be Hermione, she wasn't the brightest witch of their age for nothing!

Still, Lola only rolled her eyes at her friend, "Genius, there is possibly a more logical solution than trying to split yourself in half with a spell," she mentioned, before giggling at the rare look of confusion and bewilderment on her best mate's face. "Look, I'll talk to Harold, and you talk to Ronald, okay? I'm sure that between the two of us we can talk some sense into them, and if not we can just hex them until they agree with us" She grinned, raising one single eyebrow at her friend before her until the moment broke and the two girls broke into uncontainable peels of giggles simultaneously.

"Sounds like a plan, you absolutely must call him **Harold** though!" Hermione fought out through the giggles that had overtaken their capacity to speak coherently, tears of hilarity leaking from both of their eyes. Eventually, they calmed themselves down but by that point the class had ended and it was time for lunch. "Okay, here's the deal; catch Harold before he gets into the Great Hall, and give him a good talking to, oh! And work those pretty blue eyes, that'll get him every time," She rushed out with a smirk before running after Ron, leaving Lola utterly confused and a little concerned.

[&&&]

It took Lola a little bit of time to locate Harry but she eventually found him outside the one-eyed-witch passage way, looking extremely bored as Neville chattered away to him about some new variety of Venomous Tentacular no doubt. Poor Neville just wanted to talk to someone and yet Harry was so utterly unfocused on the conversation at hand. Lola supposed she should probably rescue him before Harry said something which was unintentionally offensive to the other boy.

"Harry!" she called out, a large smile spreading across her face as he turned around and mirrored her grin, excusing himself from his conversation with Neville and making his way towards her. She realised as she came to stand in front of him, that she was considerably tiny in comparison to him, and for some reason that made her smile more. "Can we talk?" She asked him, biting her lip as she glanced up at him through her thick eyelashes shyly. She really didn't think that her eyes would have any impact on him, but hey, Hermione had suggested it.

He grinned at her and offered her his arm, which she took gratefully, hooking her own sweater covered arm through his and allowing him to lead the way. She tried to ignore the Goosebumps which erupted on her skin at the touch of their skin, or the violently cold shiver that had been sent like an arrow down her spine. She forced herself to focus on the topic at hand, and reminded herself that this was for his benefit, not hers.

"So what did you want to talk about?" He asked as they got a variety of mixed looks from students and teachers alike. Harry wasn't stupid, he knew what it looked like, and what people were probably thinking, but he also knew that there was something bothering her and that was all that really mattered to him right now. He had to force himself not to look at her face for too long, otherwise he would fall into her blue eyes and say something dumb … again. At this point, he wouldn't have been surprised if she were part-veela.

"When are you and Ron going to kiss and make up?" she questioned, her cold hands intertwined as they both looked out at the black lake, the large ship looming over it making it look even more magnificent and intimidating than it had before. She watched him carefully as he opened his mouth to respond, anticipating that she was likely going to have to practically beat it out of him. He was the most stubborn person she knew, and she also knew that if she could convince him to make the first move, then he would end up so much happier in the long run. He needed his best friends support with the first task so close now.

"Lola …" he sighed, a small smile on his face, he had known that she would bring it up eventually, because that was the sort of person that Lola was. She didn't like it when people she cared about were being discriminated against, especially in the way that the majority of the school had been doing to Harry, and although she may have seemed like a harmlessly sweet and innocent young girl, she had a fiery temper when paired with her compassion for people. He would not have liked to be on the receiving end on one of her hexes.

"Harry, please," She pleaded with the stubborn boy in front of her, in the short time that they had known each other, Lola had learnt a couple of vital things about Harry, one of which was that he was stubborn as a mule but also, he was extremely grateful for the people he held close to him, mainly Ron and Hermione. "I know that you both miss each other and are just too proud and stubborn to say anything but someone has to make the first move and Hermione is going to end up hexing one of you if you two don't do something about it!" she scowled at him.

"I tell you what, I'll try to reconcile things with him, if you agree to sit with us like I know Hermione has been pestering you to for weeks now, you shouldn't have to sit alone, Lola," He teased her with a small grin. Harry found that, with every moment he spent with the shy girl, he just wanted to spend more time with her and know more about her. He didn't know a lot about her, other than the fact that her mother was a widow who worked as a healer at St. Mungo's, and he didn't want to pressure her into telling him her life story, but he wished that she trusted him like he trusted her. He knew that Beatrice and her followers had made it their personal mission to make eating in the great hall as uncomfortable and miserable as possible for her and she didn't need to be doing that three times a day.

[&&&]

When Harry arrived at the Gryffindor table for dinner, he smiled in relief at the sight of Lola sitting in between the Weasley twins, before deciding that it would probably be a good time to go over and rescue her from the clutches of the two master pranksters. He didn't know what they would see as a reasonable initiation to the Gryffindor table, what with all of the products they had recently been producing. He would hate for her to end up as the punchline of some elaborate practical joke.

"Why, hello there, young Harry! Don't mind us, we were just chatting up your bird here, weren't we, Fred?" George grinned devilishly before standing up from his current seat next to Lola and gesturing for Harry to sit down.

"Indeed we were George! For it is a momentous occasion when our Hogwarts champion brings a beautiful young Hufflepuff to our side of the Hall!" Fred fired back in response to his twin as he took a seat beside Lee Jordan. Harry chuckled under his breathe quietly as he took one of the twins previously abandoned seats, grateful when he noticed Hermione had taken the other one. It would have been bad if one of Seamus' _incidents_ happened on Lola's first time at the table.

Speaking of, Lola was blushing something dreadful at all of the attention that the twins had been lavishing on her, which Harry found to be incredibly endearing, before she mumbled out some excuse about them just being friends. Harry tried to ignore the plummeting in his chest from the classification she had just placed them under, as he began spooning slices of roast chicken onto his plate for dinner.

"Don't mind them, Lola, they only do it for a laugh" he smiled at her in what he hoped was an encouraging fashion, but in reality it may have come out as more of a grimace. He would hate for Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber to drive the Hufflepuff away from them. In fact he would probably have killed them if they were to prevent her from returning. He could sense Ron's eyes on them from further down the table and thought back to his conversation with Lola. He did miss his mate, and he would have liked to introduce Lola to him, show her that he wasn't as much of a giant git as she thought him to be, her opinion based solely on what Hermione had told her.

Lola smiled sweetly at him before going back to stirring her tea contemplatively, there had been something on her mind for the whole afternoon, and, no matter how hard she tried, she could not seem to shake it. She had always been good at hiding her emotions and thoughts from other people, a skill which she had inherited from her mother at an early age, but, somehow, Harry managed to see right through it. She wasn't used to someone being able to read her like that, even Hermione couldn't do that.

Nudging her lightly, Harry inhaled quietly as he grabbed her hand softly under the table, so as to not startle the young witch. Lola tore her eyes away from her fascinating cup of tea before meeting the worried expression on the young wizard's face; the fact that Harry could read her so well after such little time seriously unnerved her and she knew that there was feelings were growing in her heart for him. No matter how hard she tried to suppress them, they always ended up back at the surface and threatening to bubble over.

And that scared the living shit out of her.


	4. and I lost my faith

The first Tri-Wizard challenge was in two days, and Harry was nervous as hell, but that wasn't his main concern right now. Despite Hermione's severe warnings about how he needed to survive this task, he found himself distracted and caught up with the problem that had been plaguing his mind for the past four days.

Lola had been acting bloody strange all week, it was like as soon as she let him in a little bit, she pushed him all the way out. Every time he called her name out in the corridor, she'd flee in the opposite direction, every time he approached her when she was with Hermione, she'd stammer out a clearly made-up excuse about working on a potions essay that he knew wasn't due for weeks and she had even stopped coming to meals in the Great Hall. Beside the fact that he was concerned that she wasn't eating, he missed talking to her.

Harry knew something serious was up, and if anyone knew what the bloody hell was going on, it was going to be Hermione. Whether she would tell Harry what was going on, was going to be another matter entirely. But still, it was his only choice, so he was going to have to use his strongest persuasive powers with his best friend.

[&&&]

Hermione wasn't the type to just blurt out the reasons behind the odd behaviour of a close friend of hers, and if she had been sworn to secrecy, there was a good chance she was going to take that secret to the grave with her. Harry knew Hermione almost better than anyone, though, and he knew how to get through to her without her having a conniption and dropping dead of her own accord. That and he was desperate and a little bit needy, so he wasn't giving her a choice this time.

He waited until late afternoon on the day before the first challenge, which he still didn't know much about besides that it had something to do with defeating the dragons; it was a Monday and despite the fact that he knew he should've been studying and practicing useful spells for tomorrow, he sought out Hermione in her favourite tucked away corner of the library. Considering she wasn't talking to Ron and Lola was avoiding all public areas, he knew that this was absolutely the only place that she could be this afternoon

Just as he expected, Hermione was there with her nose buried in an abnormally large book about something highly complex, no doubt. Harry had long since given up on connecting with Hermione on an intellectual level; she was so advanced when it came to her research and the spells that she taught herself that he found it was better to just discuss other things. Like Lola, he needed her to talk to him about Lola in case that Hungarian Horntail turned him into a lump of coal tomorrow.

"Harry, what can I do for you?" she muttered without looking up from the book, she knew why he was here, and, frankly, she was astounded that it had taken him this long to come to her. Sometimes he could be extraordinarily thick-headed, just like Ronald. He might have been a talented wizard, but that was about where his deductive powers ended. She wondered whether all boys were this clueless, the twins seemed to fare alright with the opposite sex but all of the fourth year boys were practically troglodytes.

"Well, you see, it's about Lola – she's been acting quite odd as of late and it's becoming increasingly worrying to me, it's like she doesn't even want to be friends with me anymore!" He told her softly, so as not to alert the stern librarian, Madam Pince, that there was talking going on in her library. God knows all he needed was for the librarian to overhear his desperate pleas for assistance. He wasn't sure what he would do if he couldn't manage to crack Hermione and get her to tell him what was going on with his … friend.

"I figured as much, and as much as I would love to, I can't tell you why she's acting this way. However, I can tell you that passing the first challenge is far more important than sorting this out, she'll be there when you finish," Hermione informed him, finally dragging her gaze from the book in front of her to her best friend, her eyes softening at the tormented expression on his face. Nobody wanted Harry and Lola to get together more than her – **nobody** – but she was also worried that he wasn't prepared for the first challenge and him being alive was more important to her than anything. He was not going to get himself burnt to a crisp and leave her here with Ronald and Malfoy, no _way_.

She let out a loud and heavy sigh, "Go to the owlery, you _prat_ , she sends a letter to her grandmother every Friday afternoon; she should be there right about now if you hurry," She told him irritably, rolling her eyes to herself as he calmly fled from the library, garnering many confused glances from those around them. Whispers of Harry and Lola had spread over Hogwarts during the past few weeks but seeing as they hadn't been spotted snogging in the fifth floor corridor yet, people weren't quite sure what to make of them. If only they knew.

[&&&]

By the time Harry reached the top of the owlery tower, he was out of breath and adrenaline was pumping through his veins like fire whiskey. He pulled his Quidditch jumper closer to his freezing body and breathed out a sigh of relief when he saw the small and petite girl hunched over as she attempted to tie the letter onto the uncooperative owl. He could only hope that this one didn't attempt to take off her finger like the last bird that Sirius had sent had tried to do to Harry. He really did need to get a proper owl.

"Need some help?" he broke the silence and the poor girl nearly jumped out the window, she was so scared. She had known that he would catch on eventually, Harry was thick but he wasn't stupid, she had just hoped that he would wait until after the first challenge, by then she could have had a believable excuse thought up. Or she could have at least gotten over this stupid crush that was making her heart beat three times as fast in her chest. She didn't think she could survive this kind of pressure on her heart, surely something was medically amiss with her or something, there had to be another explanation.

"Oh, um, no, it's okay, I'll just send it later, I really have to get back though, I have to work on a potions essay," she stammered out before trying to dodge around Harry and get the bloody hell out of that small room before she did something stupid, like tell him the truth. Harry wasn't having any of that though; the only way either of them was leaving this room was when everything was resolved. There was no way that both of them could have what they wanted.

"Lola, you've been avoiding me," He murmured as he took a step closer to her, his cold hands gripping her forearms and sending a violent shiver shooting down her spine. Harry realised how much shorter she actually was than him, but not too much, she was the perfect height, so that if she took one step closer to him, her head would fit snugly under his chin. That was beside the point though, the point of coming here was to figure out why she was avoiding him, not to fantasize about a mystery world wherein she wanted to be that close to him. That could be saved for the vivid dreams he had been having lately.

"N-n-no I h-h-haven't" she stuttered, refusing to meet his eyes as she bit her lip shyly, she had her own, albeit slightly idiotic, reasons for avoiding Harry, and the only person whom she had divulged these reasons to was Hermione, she could only pray that her best friend hadn't shared them with the boy in front of her. She had never known Hermione to blab but she'd also never needed to keep anything a secret from Harry. It was unchartered territory for all of them. She knew he didn't believe her but she had to at least try.

"Lola..." he started, his heart rate speeding up as he felt her warm breath hit his chest through the thin button down school shirt he was wearing, "Just talk to me, love" He murmured, the endearing pet name slipping out of his mouth before he could realise what he was actually saying. He was sure that it was due to all the times that he had overheard Fred calling Hermione pet names in order to secure a rise out of her. Well, at least that was Fred's excuse, nobody besides Hermione really believed him though.

She finally dragged her gaze up to meet his green eyes, her breath catching in her throat as she struggled to find the right words to explain herself. "You could **die** tomorrow, don't you understand that, Harry? People more advanced than you have died before, and I thought that by distancing myself from you, it would make it easier, but it doesn't. All my life, I've lost people who are important to me, I don't want you to be just another one!" She exclaimed as tears blocked her vision. She had been so determined that she would not under any circumstances be crying in front of him, but that plan had gone to hell now.

Harry's gaze softened as he looked at the petite girl in front of him with tears swimming in her eyes, and let out a small chuckle before pulling her into a warm embrace. He rested his chin on the top of her head as she looped her cold, thin arms around his waist tightly, her face buried in his chest as she inhaled and exhaled softly. He had been right – they fit together like two puzzle pieces. He hadn't known that he needed to hug her this badly, or that doing so would completely soothe any doubts and worries he had about tomorrow's event.

Similarly, Lola felt all of her worries melt away as she hid her face in his chest, feeling the warmth roll over her in violent waves and shudders. Harry smelt like cinnamon and peppermint, and that was comforting her greatly right now. He reminded her of her mother's sitting room during Christmas and it was the most comforting thing to her right now. She was sure that she was going to be the same colour as a cranberry when she pulled away but she couldn't bring herself to care right now. She supposed she could always just tell him that it was simply because of the cold, because it was particularly cold in the owlery that afternoon.

Slowly, Harry pulled back and held the girl at arm's length, his thumbs brushing over her tear-streaked cheeks to clear all remnants of the sadness, "Lola, I want you to listen to me, very carefully okay? I am not going anywhere, you can't get rid of me that easily," he grinned at her before giving her another hug and pressing his lips against her temple softly. He couldn't explain what it was about her, but she just felt like home, like nothing bad could possibly exist when she was hugging him.

She smiled up at him shyly as she nodded, the two of them beginning on their way out of the owlery. She was determined to not lose her footing on the top step as she almost had on the way up." So, are you scared then, Mister Potter?" she asked gently as they left the owlery together, their hands bumping against each other often, both of them wanting to grasp the others hand but each too shy to make the first move for themselves.

"I have never been more terrified in my entire life," the young wizard confessed to her honestly.


	5. in all my darkest days

Lola wrung her cold hands together anxiously as she paced in the hallway outside the great hall. Her stomach felt as though it had relocated to her throat and she knew she would not be able to eat anything for breakfast this morning. It was the day of the first challenge of the Tri-Wizard tournament and, to be perfectly honest, she was terrified, and she wasn't even the one competing. She couldn't imagine how Harry was feeling right now, but could only hope he was a great deal calmer than her, because nerves was going to do nothing for him today.

The Hufflepuff common room was quite possibly the worst place for her to be in the hours leading up to the first task, she was aware that the rest of the Hufflepuffs were eager to see Harry go down, just so he didn't steal glory away from Cedric. They had spent most of last night after dinner brainstorming how Harry might die today, and she was sure that they were only encouraged by Beatrice to be loud about it while Lola was around, seeing as she had made it her mission to convince the entire house that Lola was a traitor for being friends with Harry.

Lola had been awake for hours now, actually she couldn't remember going to sleep but was sure she must've, and it seemed as though no one else in the castle was even close to awakening. She didn't blame them, the challenge itself wouldn't take place until after lunch, which wasn't for a while yet, and no sane person is ever awake and conscious at 7 am on a Tuesday morning. However, there was no conceivable way for her to be able to sleep when something like this was going to happen today and she had needed to escape from her dorm room, even if it was considerably warmer than the stone floors of the great hall.

She was horribly scared for Harry's safety, being a worry-wart was a cursed habit of hers which she tended to despise more often than not. She had admitted to Hermione quite late last night, that she had indeed done what Hermione and Fred, whom she had also become quite close with, had been teasing her about for weeks and developed an intense crush on the boy wonder. It was the first time she had ever spoken it out loud and that meant a lot to her. She had also explained to her best friend that she had absolutely no intention of ever sharing this with the young lad whom had kidnapped her heart, despite Hermione's insistence that Harry felt exactly the same way as she did. Harry had no need to know those sorts of things when he had much bigger issues on his plate.

"Lola?" a husky voice rang out, and she whipped around, her heart seizing up at the sight of him, sweatpants slung low on his hips as the plain grey t-shirt he had on hugged his quidditch-toned chest and the crooked grin on his face made her own small smile appear. She could not fathom how he could have a smile that wide when her own stomach was twisted in knots due to nerves and honestly, was it any surprise that the boy-who-lived had made her feel things that she never had before, when he seemingly rolled out of bed looking so gosh darn perfect? She realised after this long-winded thought process that she was in fact staring at him and most likely making him wildly uncomfortable.

"Harry? What are you doing awake? You should be sleeping! If you're over-tired then you won't perform to your full potential in the task!" she stressed, folding her arms tightly across her chest as she moved closer to him, her eyebrows creasing in worry while he shook his head at her. She had no idea, he believed, as to how entirely endearing she was, her worry for him was adorable and made him feel like his stomach was going to leap out of his throat, then came the plummeting feeling as he realised that there was no way a girl as perfectly wonderful as Lola could want anything more than friendship with him. He also wished that she would stop crossing her arms over her chest like that, because honestly it was just rude for her to punish him like that. He was a fourteen year old boy and she was a gorgeous girl, what was he supposed to do?

"Lola, I told you that I'd be fine, and I stand by that," He smiled crookedly at her "You just need to trust me on this" he told her before coming close enough to wrap her in a comforting hug, resting his chin atop her head as she sighed into his chest, closing her eyes momentarily as she realised that this may be the last time she was able to be close enough to hug him. She relished in the feeling of his arms around her, her empty stomach sinking as she came to terms with the fact that this would never mean more to him than just a friendly, comforting hug. If this was the last hug she ever got, then she was going to make sure that she bruned it into her memory

"Please be careful," she whispered, tightening her arms around him as she attempted to copy his scent into her memory forever. She had never told Harry about the reason she avoided talking about her family, and the way she felt right now was reminding her of the last time she had seen Max. She missed him so much, and it seemed like so long since she'd seen him, yet, at the same time, it felt like yesterday that she'd had that terribly dreadful conversation with Charlie because her parents were too distraught to handle anything right at that moment. That was something that a ten year old should never have to deal with.

"Harry, I need to tell you something – the reason that I am so bloody scared out of my mind about you competing is that, four years ago, my older brother, Max was killed in an act like this. He, along with his best friend, Charlie, decided that they were going to go and search for the giants of northern island, and I made him promise to be careful, but we got an owl a few weeks later from Charlie telling us that Max had fallen to his death while they were scaling up a mountain. That's why I need you to be careful, I can't do it again. It ripped my family apart and I don't know if I can do that again, I don't know if I can survive it," She told him quietly, unwrapping her arms from around him to squeeze her hands together.

Harry gently gripped her shoulders, forcing her to look up at him, her doe-like eyes swimming with unshed tears. "Lola, I promise you, I am not going anywhere, you can't get rid of me that easily," he swore, his bright smile reassuring her that maybe, just maybe, everything could work out okay. Harry was a talented wizard, one of the best that Lola had ever known, despite Professor Snape's own grievances against the boy, no one truly knew the reason behind the greasy haired man's prejudice against Harry. Lola had faith in Harry, though; she knew he could do this, even if nobody else agreed with her. Wasn't that the entire reason she had approached him that day in the courtyard?

[&&&]

Lola gulped as she drummed her fingers impatiently against her jean-encased thigh, she had been sitting in the grand stands for the past two hours, watching as the three other champions battled it out with fierce and terrifying dragons that gave just as good as they got. Harry was the last to compete and Lola had been dreading this moment, she had no doubt that Harry had the capability to complete the task, but she was also well aware of the way nerves could get in the way when attempting this type of task. She just hoped that this wouldn't be the case for the dark haired wizard. Trust him to end up with the most dangerous and most volatile dragon out of them all.

She felt a tight squeeze on her left hand and flashed a brief smile to her best mate before squeezing back just as had, Hermione was just as scared, if not more, than Lola, but usually refused to show it because she regarded it as a sign of weakness and hated being made vulnerable. Lola knew that it was frustrating Hermione that the only thing that she could do was shout encouragement to him, and even then, it could be lost in the noise of the crowd's cheers. She too wished that there was some way in which she could ensure Harry's safety by the end of the challenge, but all she could do was hope and pray. She needed him to be okay, she couldn't lose him this early on.

For the fourth time that day, their headmaster and one of the greatest sorcerers to ever exist, Albus Dumbledore, stepped up to address the large crowd which was comprised of Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students, as well as Hogsmeade residents and professors. "Three champions have thus far defeated their dragons and will progress to the next challenge and only one champion remains to compete, Mr. Harry Potter," He boomed, the crowd erupting in cheers as Harry slowly came into view out of the entry to the area that had once been the Quidditch pitch but had been transformed into a large arena to house the event. Lola kind of missed Quidditch, she was a completely rubbish player but she liked watching.

She felt her stomach jump into her throat when Harry stepped into the arena, wanting to reach out and tell him to run, but all she could do was wait and watch. A collective gasp went through the crowd as the dragon, a terrifying creature which was covered in sharp horns, swooped down to attack Harry, the young wizard scarcely escaping its blow as he ducked behind a conveniently placed boulder and dodged the blazing fire the dragon had breathed. A shriek erupted from near Lola, and the fact that it had come from Hermione would have amused the Hufflepuff greatly if she had not been so terrified for the safety of the boy whom had stolen her heart, "Your wand, Harry! Your wand!" the girl beside her cried in an attempt to get through the jeering crowd and help the young wizard.

Before anyone could see it coming, Harry was jumping onto his broom and unsuccessfully making a grab for the golden egg which held the clue for the next challenge, barely missing as a breath of fire singed his covered arm. He flew over the back of the seated area and the dragon tore after him, freeing itself from its confinement within the chains, a fact which had sent Hermione into a rant about animal cruelty and the disgust it made her feel. There was no sound heard for a good length of time and Lola felt the tears sting the back of her eyes, this was why she had made him promise to be careful and he broke it, he broke his promise.

A sudden cheer broke out as the young wizard soared back over the seats and scooped up the egg, landing as gracefully as he possibly could and grinning as Lola and Hermione jumped out of their seats in celebration, hugging each other tightly and screaming louder than anyone else in the whole crowd with tears streaming down their faces out of happiness and relief. Lola had quite honestly never felt more relieved or happy in her entire life, he had done it, and she knew he could do it but just the fact that he had made it through to the next challenge in one piece made her happy beyond belief.

She was going to kill him for making her go through that.

[&&&]

Lola, Hermione and Ron made their way to the champion's tent where Madam Pomfrey was patching Harry up from the minor injuries which he had incurred during the challenge. She had just finished wrapping his arm in gauze when they arrived and a wide smile was spread across Lola's face as they walked towards him. There was a joyful feeling in her stomach as she rushed towards him, throwing her arms around his neck as she hugged him as tight as she could without hurting him, his own arms carefully wrapping around her waist as he enjoyed the feeling of having her in his arms again, even if it wasn't exactly in the way he would've liked.

"You complete and utter arsehole! I thought you were going to die, you're lucky I haven't killed you for scaring me like that!" she exclaimed, punching him in the arm as hard as she possibly could, which still wasn't very hard. She had desperately wanted to at least pretend to be mad at him, but as soon as she saw he was actually okay and right in front of her, she couldn't stop the smile on his face. Her grin matched the one on Harry's face as he chuckled at her silliness, his arms reluctantly unwinding from around her waist and resting comfortably at his sides.

Lola stepped back from him and allowed him to have his moment with his best friends, glad to see him and Ron making up and getting back to their normal selves. She hadn't even noticed herself getting lost in her own thoughts until she felt his arms wrap around her from behind and lift her off of the ground, pulling an alarmed shriek from within her lips.

He smirked at her as he slung a casual arm over her shoulders and pulled her into his side, "I promised that nothing would happen and I was right, wasn't I?" he teased, a cheeky grin on his face as he relished in the moment; having her curled up into his side as he walked towards the castle with his best friends. He made a promise to himself right then and there, that no matter what happened, he would make her his by the time the next challenge came around.

He was sure of it.


	6. but she makes me want to believe

That evening, there was a huge party in the Gryffindor common room, with students from all over the campus turning up to celebrate Harry's victory. It seemed as though everyone had given up on his or her relentless vendetta against him, and nobody could resist a Gryffindor party, especially one that had been co-ordinated by the Weasley twins.

The only person, who was missing, was Lola. And numerous people, who all found that it was necessarily to point out this absence to Harry, as though he wasn't aware that she was missing from his side. His eyes were constantly flitting to the entryway, hoping to see a flash of yellow or burgundy coming through the door.

Hermione had also noted her absence, and began fighting through the throng of supporters to reach Harry. Once she managed to make it to where he and Ron were standing, she settled a hand on his arm gently, "Harry, I think something's wrong. She should be here by now, you know that she wouldn't skip something like this" She whispered to him discretely, looking up at him with a matching look of concern.

"So why are we still here? If she's in trouble, then we need to go and find her, Hermione! What if she's hurt?" he stressed, running his hand through his messy hair worriedly. His mind was spinning with all of the possibilities with what could have happened to her, all of them linking back to the dream which he'd had at during the summer.

Hermione grabbed his shoulder when he began moving towards the exit, hauling him back to where he had been standing previously. "You need to stay here, Harry, if you leave then people are going to know that something is going on and that will only complicate things" she hissed to him, her grip keeping him from running out the door.

"Hermione I am **not** going to just sit here while Lola is possibly hurt and in trouble somewhere right now, someone has to help her!" he exclaimed quietly, his wide eyes conveying the depth of worry that he was experiencing right now. He needed to know that she was okay and that she wasn't going to disappear on him again. He had only just managed to get her to stop avoiding him again and now she might be in trouble that would prevent him from ever going back to normal with her.

"Look, I'll go and find her, I'll take Ginny and Fred with me and I'll bring her back in one piece. Don't worry, okay, Harry? I'll make sure she's okay. You know I wouldn't let anything bad happen to her" She reassured him, looking to him for confirmation before she took off.

"Hurry" he pleaded with her, receiving a quick nod before she was grabbing Ginny and Fred and disappearing out the exit, leaving Harry to continue worrying about the girl who was so important to him.

[&&&]

That was how Hermione, Ginny and Fred found themselves roaming the halls in search for their missing friend whilst a legendary party was going on in the common room. Normally Ginny and Fred would wholeheartedly object to leaving a party like that, but they knew Lola. There is no way in hell that she would ditch Harry like that, something or someone had detained her and they all shared Harry's suspicion that whatever was keeping her could not be good.

After everything that had happened in the past few days, there was no way that Lola would simply just forget about the party. She especially wouldn't end up going back to the friends who had tormented her for the three years. Why, just this morning, Hermione and Ginny had overheard Beatrice sneering over Lola and Harry's friendship.

Suddenly a thought popped into Hermione's head, her mind going back to a conversation she had over heard on the way to the stadium earlier that morning. Without a word, she was taking off down the hall, leaving Fred and Ginny to bolt after her, both sharing a similar look of confusion as they attempted to keep up with the young witch.

"Hermione!" Fred wheezed out as they finally caught up with her, his hand wrapping around her upper arm as he yanked her to a stop, "What on earth are you doing? We're supposed to be looking for Lola!" he exclaimed, his eyebrows furrowing at her. Lola was her friend before anyone else's, so why was she trying to run off?

"Exactly! And I overheard someone planning to hurt her this morning! I should never have let her go back to Hufflepuff Common Room on her own!" She exclaimed as she whirled around, her gaze locking with Ginny's as she came to the same conclusion as Hermione did.

Ginny's hand slapped over her mouth, "Beatrice. She was talking about teaching someone a lesson, I didn't even think about Lola. We've got to go, _Now!"_ she exclaimed as the three of them took off towards the Hufflepuff Common Room.

Hermione's mind was spinning at what Beatrice could possibly consider to be appropriate for teaching Lola a lesson. Furthermore, she couldn't understand how she could be so mean to someone like Lola, who was honestly the kindest and gentlest soul that she had ever known.

Hermione was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice Fred and Ginny stopping, and nearly slammed into their backs, before eventually joining them in peaking around the doorframe they were frozen in front of. Once she did that, she immediately knew she was right in making Harry stay behind.

Beatrice was pacing back and forth in front of a blackboard while two gangly boys held Lola back by her arms. From the state of Lola's face, someone had already had a decent go at her. There were a collection of dark bruises littered across her jaw and she had what looked to be scratch marks down one of her cheeks.

Hermione had no clue how she was possibly going to explain this to Harry and make it out alive. But her first and foremost concern was to get Lola out of there alive.

"You think you're so special, don't you? You always were so full of yourself. But you're nothing. You're just a filthy little half-blood with nothing to offer. He'll never love you, you're nothing to him but a play thing, something to pass the time" Beatrice sneered at Lola, watching as the blonde stared back at her blankly, "God you really are pathetic, just like your pathetic excuse for a father."

At that Lola lashed out, the first time anyone in the vicinity had ever seen her be anything other that kind.

"You' know what's pathetic? Pathetic is using two large boys to restrain a 90-pound girl just so you could beat the shit out of her. Pathetic is tearing someone down everyday for three years because you don't have the self-esteem to be happy with yourself. Pathetic is taking your anger out on someone else because you were rejected" She hissed at Beatrice.

"And what's really pathetic" Ginny cut in "Is that you thought that none of us would come looking for you" she began, watching the colour drain from Beatrice's face as her two goons fled the room. "I know this concept must be foreign to you, since you're quite obviously a lonely bitter young thing, but Lola is beloved – especially in the Gryffindor house. Now why don't you run along and disappear before Harry gets here and you really need to run?" she jeered at the French girl, before she flounced from the room.

She had not even crossed the threshold before Lola was surging forward and wrapping the three Gryffindor's in a tight hug. "Thank God you guys showed up, I have never been more relieved in my entire life" she sighed out shakily, wiping unshed tears from her eyes. "How did you guys know to come?" she asked as they began their journey back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Oh _please_!" Fred exclaimed, his hands positioned on his hips sassily, "Anyone with a brain could tell that you wouldn't miss a chance to celebrate lover boy's victory" he smirked, dodging the embarrassed punch that came flying towards him.

"So how'd you figure it out then, Freddy?" Lola asked innocently, before a similarly devious smirk covered her own face, causing Ginny and Hermione to let out matching whistles in appreciation. Ginny's arm came over to wrap around Lola in a supportive hug.

"I've got to hand it to you, Lo, you're not some damsel in distress. You can definitely take care of yourself" She commented, earning a soft laugh from the girl beside her. Ginny was probably the one who Lola had worried about the most when it came to befriending the Gryffindor's, so it was reassuring to know that she had gained her support and approval.

"Thanks Gin, I do what I can to keep up with you badasses" Lola grinned, smiling at the three people who had been better friends to her in two weeks than Beatrice and Sariah had in the past three years. She didn't know that it was possible to feel this comfortable and accepted amongst people her age, and she was so grateful to have been proven wrong.

The foursome came to a halt in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, the large woman peering down at them judgementally, no doubt observing the state of Lola's appearance. "Password?" she quizzed them suspiciously, obviously expecting a lack of response, or some form of coercing to gain entry to the common room and the party which lay within.

"Balderdash" Ginny proclaimed confidently, watching smugly as the portrait swung open and the sounds of a rather raucous party spilled out to their ears. "Is it just me, or has the party gotten more festive since we left?" she shouted, trying to be heard over the sounds of people yelling and screaming within the small room.

Fred had vanished almost instantly after re-entering the common room and Hermione also hurried off to get to Harry before he managed to see Lola and completely lose it. Lola's eyes settled on Harry and the mere sight of him caused her heart to begin thumping in her chest.

Harry's gaze locked onto Lola the moment he was permitted to turn around, his eyes widening in horror at the amount of bruises the psychopath had caused her. It took less than a moment for him to abandon his composure in favour of closing the space between them. He came to a stop in front of her and examined her up close, his eyes furrowed in concentration.

"Are you okay?" he asked her after a period of silence, his eyes darting across her face as he took in the bruises and scrapes that Beatrice had inflicted. His hands came up and brushed her hair away from her face gently, taking extra care to not press on any of her bruises. She nodded carefully, biting down on her lip in concern.

"You weren't worried, were you?" she joked with a watery grin, breathing out a sigh of relief as he pulled her into a tight hug, his face buried in the bare skin of her shoulder as her own arms wrapped tightly around his neck. He chuckled against her skin and caused a violent shiver to go shooting down her spine as he did so.

"Absolutely terrified" he mumbled, his voice muffled against her shoulder while her fingers carded through his hair soothingly. She had never been this close to him for so long before, but she wasn't complaining in the slightest. Being this close to him had more of a calming effect on her than any therapist ever had.

She gave him a small smile as he pulled back, "you're not getting rid of me quite that easily, potter" she laughed, having no idea just how real the possibility had been for him during those missing hours.

[&&&]

Harry and Lola were practically inseparable from that point onwards during the night, wherever Lola was, Harry appeared to be, and vice versa. It didn't matter whether Lola was chatting to Hermione and Ginny or whether Harry was talking to Fred and George, they never left each other's sides.

Long after everyone had vacated the common room, Harry, Lola, Hermione and Fred found themselves curled up on the couches beside the fireplace. Lola had also noticed through the night, that Fred and Hermione always seemed to be within eyesight of one another. It was something she had already mentioned to Harry, and something that she fully intended to bring up with Hermione tomorrow.

Lola had gradually been moving closer to Harry on the couch, to the point where her head had eventually been resting on his shoulder, before dropping into his lap once she dozed off into dreamland. Harry's fingers skimming through her long hair softly as he watched her sleep in his lap, a lovesick smile taking over his face as he did so.

"I honestly do not understand why you can't just hurry up and tell her, Harry" Hermione commented quietly as she watched her two best friends, as happy as she was for the two of them, her heart yearned for something like that for herself. She could only dream of someone looking at her the same way that Harry was looking at Lola right in that moment.

"It's too soon, Hermione, what if she doesn't like me back? Then I'll have just ruined one of the most important friendships in my life" he responded to her softly, his eyes never truly leaving Lola as he considered whether he should wake her and take her back to her dormitory or whether to just tuck her into his bed like he wanted to.

Hermione had to seriously bite her tongue at this point, she had promised herself and Fred that she was going to let the two come together on their own. But the urge to meddle was so strong – particularly when they were both lamenting to her about how their feelings couldn't possibly be reciprocated by the other person.

It was driving her to the point of near insanity to do it, and if it hadn't have been Fred that she had promised, then she probably would have broken that promise a few hours ago. But she knew that she couldn't violate Lola's trust by spilling the beans to Harry about her feelings. She couldn't and she wouldn't do that Lola, especially after Lola had entrusted her with this secret.

But there was no saying that she couldn't merely give the two a nudge in the right direction, was there? It wouldn't be meddling, per say, just a small encouragement to get the ball rolling again and prevent her from slamming her head into a brick wall out of frustration.

And she had the perfect accomplice in mind for the job.


	7. they call her love

Upon waking the next morning, the first thing that Lola noticed was that she was not in the Hufflepuff dormitory. The room she was in had impeccable lighting and was covered in burgundy and gold fabric, leading her to believe that Harry hadn't taken her home last night.

The second thing that she noticed was the mess of unruly black hair and grey cotton that was curled up in a heap on the floor next to her bed. She let out a soft smile as she took in the sight, her heart swelling with affection for the boy in front of her.

She was still in shock after the events of last night, she knew that Beatrice was a piece of work, but she never would have pictured her to hold someone down while she beat them up. She may not have fully processed it, but she knew that Harry would not want to sit by idly while she got away with it. He was going to want her to receive the appropriate punishment for her crimes.

The problem was that Lola just wasn't wired that way; she didn't want to make anybody suffer - even if it was someone like Beatrice. It would probably be for the best if she managed to lay low for a little bit, even if that meant risking a disagreement with Harry.

With that thought in mind, she slowly crawled her way out of the four-poster bed and collected her combat boots in her hands carefully before slipping out of the room and hurrying down the stairs as quietly as she could manage. It was still fairly early, and a Sunday morning, so the majority of the castle was still fast asleep.

The one person who wasn't, of course, was Hermione Granger – whose head whipped around when she heard footsteps entering the Gryffindor Common Room. Her eyes widened when she realized who it was, with Lola having to dash across the room to clamp a hand over her friend's mouth. Hermione was a good friend, one of the best a person could ask for, but she had yet to learn the ability of volume control.

"If Harry asks, you have not seen me at all, as far as you are aware, I left early this morning to finish an essay" she whispered frantically to Hermione, waiting for a nod of confirmation before she removed her hand from her mouth. She needed to get out of here before the rest of Gryffindor house awoke with the assumption that something had gone down last night.

"You can't keep disappearing on him like this, Lola! You're my best friend and I love you, but it's messing with his head! If you don't like him, then tell him so he can move on!" Hermione's shrill voice filled the common room, forcing Lola to slap a hand over her face in exasperation. However, her head snapped up once again once Hermione's words registered in her brain.

"Move on? Move on from what?" she asked her friend inquisitively, stepping closer to the bushy haired girl curiously. Hermione seemed to freeze at that, shaking her head viscously – as though that would retract the words that she had just uttered. She couldn't believe she had spilt the beans to Lola, she was generally so talented at keeping secrets and feelings to herself – she didn't understand how this had happened.

"Hermione, come on! What did you mean?" Lola pressed further, her curiosity getting the better of her as she momentarily forgot her plan to sneak back into the basement before the entire castle was awake. Now that they had started this conversation, Lola was more invested in it than ever, she simply had to know what Hermione had meant.

"Lola?"

Both witches whipped around at a newly male voice entering the common room, Lola's heart jumping back into her throat as her eyes landed on Harry standing there in his pyjama's. She knew now that she wouldn't be able to leave, the only way she ever could, was if he wasn't right in front of her. Especially when he looked so delightfully adorable with his glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose crookedly.

"What are you guys yelling about? I'm pretty sure that Hagrid could hear you," he teased, watching both of them tense up as they fumbled over their words. Harry knew exactly what the yelling was about; he just wanted to see what they would say. He definitely wanted to intervene before Hermione could spill her guts about his feelings though, hence why he had entered before she could.

"I really should get going, I've got to finish that letter to my mother before I start drowning in parchment and books for that History of Magic essay" Lola interjected, offering them both a gentle smile before turning around and disappearing through the portrait hole, her long hair swishing behind her as she left the Common Room.

As soon as Lola was out of earshot, Hermione immediately punched Harry in the arm. "Ow! Hermione, what the bloody hell was that for?!" he complained, rubbing the sore spot tentatively as he raised his eyebrows at her. If anyone ought to be upset, it was him; she had, after all, almost completely revealed his feelings to the girl who he liked.

"Go after her! If you don't start doing something proactive, she's going to end up falling into the arms of Cedric Diggory, or some other golden-haired Hufflepuff" she hissed, shoving him in the same direction that Lola had just disappeared in. She didn't like keeping secrets from either one of them, and it was starting to drain her mentally.

Harry grumbled as he staggered through the portrait hole, his head whipping around in search of Lola before spotting her a few feet ahead. "Lola!" he called out, his voice leaving his body before he could think to stop it as his feet took off running towards her. She spun around at the sound of his voice, a smile coming onto her face as he approached her.

He skid to a stop in front of her, suddenly coming to the realisation that he was still in his pyjamas and she in her clothes from the night before. He didn't have to be a genius like Hermione to know what conclusion people would naturally come to if they saw the two of them together. Despite this though, he couldn't bring himself to care what people would think about them.

"Harry? What are you doing?" she asked with a small laugh, her boots still clutched in her hands as students began to pass them on their way to breakfast in The Great Hall. She was conscious of people's stares and mutterings, all of them speculating why the boy-who-lived and a Hufflepuff were standing outside Gryffindor Tower in their current attire.

"Oh, um, right; I was just thinking that … well given what happened last night … did you want me to walk you back to your dormitory? Just in case Beatrice tries anything" he stumbled over his words, however, the hopeful glint in his eyes remained as he waited for her answer. It seemed as though he was constantly embarrassing himself around her, something he hoped would change soon.

A similarly hopeful glint appeared in Lola's own eyes, a small smile lighting up her pale features as she nodded earnestly. "That sounds great!" she agreed, blushing at her obvious show of excitement, "I mean I'm sure you have better things to do, but if you're offering, then I would most definitely appreciate the company," she finished, unable to remove the smile from her face.

Harry returned her smile as they began to walk together, their hands swinging in sync with each other as they fell into an easy conversation. "It looks like your bruises have cleared up" Harry commented, taking note of how the dark purple marks which had covered her face the night before, had now faded to a shade which was only slightly different to the pigmentation of her face.

Lola nodded in agreement, blushing slightly as she turned her face slightly to face him, "Yeah, Ginny helped me with those last night, she's really gifted with that kind of thing," she agreed, "hopefully they'll heal before classes start again" she finished, biting her lip self-consciously as she imagined the pitiful looks that she would receive if they didn't heal. If they didn't heal, then she would most definitely be required to explain them to Professor Sprout and she feared that doing so would only serve to exacerbate things.

Looking away from the boy beside her, Lola nearly stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed Beatrice and her group making a beeline towards the two of them. She may have not wanted to exacerbate the issue, but she definitely was not ready for a confrontation with them yet. The other girls may have not been directly involved in what had happened, but they had a tendency to follow Beatrice's lead, and could be particularly nasty when they desired to.

She noticed Harry's hand wrapping around her own as he followed her line of sight, his fingers slipping between hers tightly as he subtly pulled her closer to him. Even without turning her head, she could picture his locked jaw and tensed shoulders; she just hoped that she was able to talk him out of starting anything.

Of course she knew that Harry would never harm a girl, but that didn't mean he wouldn't impulsively blurt out something that could make things worse. She also knew that he would only be doing it out of defence of her, and as much as that absolutely made her want to melt, she feared that it would only make things worse for her; especially when she was left alone in the Hufflepuff Common Room without Harry or the others for backup.

Her other hand latched onto Harry's forearm, preparing to use that as an anchor if she needed to haul his ass back from some kind of altercation with the Gregory twins, who were flanking Beatrice on either side. Truth be told, Lola was extremely concerned about how they were all going to emerge from this particular confrontation. This concern was only amplified as Beatrice's smirk grew as she drew closer to the pair.

"Well well well, looks like someone's bruises have healed nicely" she sneered as she stepped closer to Lola, "Such a shame, they really were an improvement." A round of catty laughter followed her words, echoing from the girls surrounding her. "Surely you must agree, Harry," Beatrice's tone turned sickly sweet as she turned her attention to the boy beside Lola. Her smile only grew when she noticed Lola's shoulders tense up anxiously.

"Actually, I don't think that. In fact, I think that whoever thought it was okay to hold down a girl as someone else assaulted her or to actually inflict the assault, is a disgusting excuse for a human being," he said smoothly, despite the fire which was raging within his eyes. Lola tightened her grip on his hand, offering a small yet meaningful smile as he turned to look at her, instantly calming him down.

"With that being said," he continued "There is nothing which could ever make Lola look less than perfect to me" he finished softly, his eyes still locked with hers. Lola felt her heart swell with affection for the boy beside her, leaning up and pressing her lips to his cheek gently before turning her gaze back to the girl who had once made her fear for her life.

"Have a nice day, Beatrice," Lola said softly before she and Harry swerved around them, continuing to move down the hall as they had been before. She looked up at Harry with a shy smile, "Thank you" she mumbled gently, squeezing his hand softly as he returned her smile.

Harry couldn't help but smile whenever he was around her, she had the ability to seemingly brighten any room he was in, or lift any foul mood he was in. He could feel his affection for her growing with each passing day, every moment he spent with her led him to new discoveries about something which made him fall even harder for her.

He knew he had to tell her, he just couldn't bring himself to do it.


End file.
